Travel Safety in Egypt

Comments

Hello everyone, 5 weeks to go and we are off to egypt, a concern read on net that unrest in qena and protests over new gorvenor appointment, said rail line damaged and blocked by demonstrators and also roads leading to aswan/luxor and hurghada affected, please advise on current situation, thanking you kindly for a reply.

dear Isish group, we follow the situation in qena minute by minute and the protests finished from yesterday and everyone depart to their homes after they opened the rail stations and all roads. don't worry. everything is arranged in order.

sorry to bother you again antoinette but could you update us on safety etc, since death of osama bin laden, we have no affiliation to usa but we are non the less westerners, we know in our hearts that egypt is safe but just your opinion would be greatly appreciated on the situation. my intention since booking this holiday is to bring our irish national flag and put it in tahirr square and maybe more european tourists will visit, i also suggest to help with tourism that other nations would put their flag up as well to let the world know we admire and respect your nation, thanks from IRISH COUPLE.

Dear Irish couple, I don't think the death of Ben Laden will affect on Egypt at all because all the Egyptians know well he was terrorist and he must be killed. also, The Armed Forces besides the Police surround Egypt with safety especially after the Revolution. Really Egypt is so safe now and welcome every day a lot of Tourists. in addition, as a travel agent, we highly promote Egypt more than before to announce to Everyone like to visit Egypt, not to be anxious. Egypt is safe and stable. of course, you can put your flag in Tahrir Square, that will encourage others to come and visit Egypt.

hello, i am thinking of going away to Egypt at the beginning of July with my boyfriend. We found such a good deal for all inclusive in Taba so really want to go but we are a bit on edge about whether it will be safe or not, would you be able to let me know if you think Taba is safe to travel to?? thanks

Hello. Everyone's replies and concerns are same as mine. Im booked to leave to Cairo, Egypt May 30th from South Korea with a Tour group. My main concerns have been mainly surrounding Egypt, and we will be moving over to Jerusalem, Israel after a few days in Cairo. But that is another concern traveling around the West Bank. It seems that every travel agency in Egypt claims that it is very safe to come and visit that everything has gone back to normal, and even the travel agencies in Korea are saying it's safe to go and visit. However I ask the travel agencies in the U.S. and they are advising to not travel there if its not needed. I'm only assuming it has to do with Bin Laden's death and the threat against our national safety as a whole. No matter what the situation, I will be traveling with my family from May 30th - June 8th and am greatly worried about all the possible demonstrations and public hearings that could go on unannounced while we're traveling. Also, I've been reading during my research on the safety of traveling there that you can't use your cell phones there? And very hard to get internet connection. And that peoples' electronic items and gadgets were compenscated at the airports and security check-ins and haven't been returned or returned damaged. Anybody have any feedback on these subjects? Thank you for reading.

irish couple here again, dreadful news that ten or more egyptians killed yesterday and many injured, my sympathy for their sorrows, i am now really concerned but am still willing to go ahead with our trip unless our tour operator cancels, i and im sure many other tourists would dearly appreciate more news on situation there, thanks antoinette you are so good to reply hope you and your loved ones safe.

we are also in egypt cairo aswan luxor etc in early june to mid june and are not too concerned about the safety aspects of the trip all seem calm and tourist police plentiful so we are all excited about our trip im more concerned now about the esna loch being closed affecting our nile cruise itenary from aswan to luxor and meaning many more hours of bus travel rather than cruising, we heard the there are now two loch and when one is closed the other is open, we hope this is true please advise if anyone knows, thank you, and by the way enjoy egypt its just a wonderful place safe trip and post on return god bless, mary

I am planning a trip to Egypt with On the Go tours and am due to arrive in Cairo on the 1st August 2011. I know a lot can change between now and then, but was just wondering if anyone has travelled to Egypt recently and whether it was safe? Particularly if it will be safe for two young australian girls?

hello jess, I live in Egypt so i can benefit u well about the safety in Egypt especially for tourists. Egypt is safe and stable now. only some clashes happened in Egypt after the revolution but this is normal. but every day, safety improves than before.
As for tourists, don't worry at all because The tourism Police put excessive security instructions to keep all the places of interest safe and also protect all the tourists.
Yes, We make trips in Egypt, just advise me the arrival & departure dates, hotel category.

Hello, I have a trip planned in early October, this has been a life time dream for a number of years. Please can you keep me updated on the safety in Egypt. I have a struggle with family and friends and their worry of my safety to travel to Egypt. I understand that this is a little while, but I have to make flight arrangements at the end of this month. please keep me posted, so I can determine what steps to take.

Hi we are going to Sharm on the 15th June this will be our 15th time to the same Hotel. We have always been treated very very good and are looking forword to seeing all our friends. The Egypt people are warm and frendley. I am 60 in November and a week later it will be our 25th wedding Aniversary, we will be there with friends and family. Any one going to Egypt dont worry just enjoy the sun and people and remember your not in Briton.

Hi Guys! I just safely returned from my visit to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel between may 29th to June 9th. Egypt was quite for the most part but our trip was changed due to some issues in Luxor. Our Nile cruise was cancelled, So we ended up going to Alexandria instead. We did spend awful a lot of time, on our tour bus..it was mainly our place of rest other than staying at the hotels. But they did make it up to us by letting us have lunch on the nile river on a small boat. I dont know about the other tour groups going or people going by themselves, but my tour group had things down pretty well and had connections in all the places that weve visited and gone to. Alexandria was a cute city, was only there two days..they didnt really let us roam around too much in Egypt to be honest and didnt let us off the bus for any reason except for at our visiting sites and hotels. Cairo was a busy city, lots of people, but they were friendly. kids would wave to you on the bus and smile. Just be aware, there are serious amounts of people waiting for you to get off the bus or cars to get in your face and sell you things for a dollar. If they claim its real papyrus, its not. if it was real, itd be around a $100. Never drink water from the faucet or the fountains..always buy water bottles..they have it cheap where youll be visiting, usually two bottles for a $1. If you DO buy souveniers or items from the people, especially the kids by the bay, make sure you have exact change or get the item in your hand before handing over the money..often times the kids will run off after u hand them a dollar or not give u change back..this situation is also the same for Jordan and Israel. I was lucky enough to have a local guide traveling with me at each country. Never the less, my trip was safe and amazing, it was just really hard to deal with the hot weather (135 degrees) and going in and out of border points..going through egypt to israel, to israel to jordan, and jordan back to israel..to even leaving israel were all such a hastle..they are SOOOOOOO complicated with their procedures for arriving and departing. So be careful and always pack liquids and square looking items on top of the luggage, itll make the check-in process a WHOLE LOT FASTER! make sure you have PLENTY of dollar bills..i brought hundred dollars in dollar bills..and ended up needing more. Dollar bill will be your bestfriend..and always be smart and stay in your hotels at night unless you have a night-time tour guide for some places. Never travel alone and staying with a large group is the safest way to travel around the middle-east. Hope this post helped..and if you have anymore questions ill be happy to answer the best I can!

Advice for young girls traveling, or females traveling alone to the middle east, if any of you guys are planning on climbing Mt. Sinai like my tour group did, NEVER EVER, for any reason ride the camel up. Unless you have a group of people with you, including a MALE, do NOT, i repeat, ride the camel up. I climbed the whole mt.sinai with my dad and was very glad to not have ridden the camel up to the camel transit. A few females from my tour group that rode the camel half way up because they couldn't climb anymore, almost got kidnapped and robbed, they took them away from us right away (We went up at 2am..like most usual people do) in pitch dark, they couldn't see anything and they said they stopped the camel when they couldn't see anybody around them anymore and it was completely quite, tried to pull them off the camel touching their legs, grabbing their purses, and all they did was scream for 30 minutes and they wouldn't stop,..but another group of people happen to pass by after awhile, so they cried got off and walked up with the other tour group to meet up with us..this story was horrifying to me and I just advise any single travelers, especially females to ride the camel up. If you must, go with a group, and they'll try to sell the ride expensive around $20 bucks at the bottome of mt. sinai but about 20-30 minutes walk up, they'll sell it cheaper for $15-$16..you'll see camels all the way up mt. sinai and prices will get cheaper. please just be smart and know anything could happen at the dead of night in a foreign country.

My uncle's friends who are wealthy Egyptians in their 70s now living in USA, advised my uncle NOT to travel to Egypt WITH THEM for the next 1-2 years. His friend has not returned my phone call yet. Can anyone shed light on this? We hope to travel to Cairo then to Aswan-Luxor Nile cruise in September 2011. We are a young American married couple. I keep reading that Cairo is safe again. But I haven't heard anything specifically about Americans traveling to Egypt.

Hello everyone!!!!I planing to to go Cai in 08/22 and i took a plan with KET TRAVEL...any bosy know about this company??? or do you have any other company to take a tour from Cairo to Luxor or some for 6 days???Thanks

I've been reading tripadvisor this summer, and have noticed that there have been serious staff riots at Mamlouk Palace Hotel in Hurghada. Staff members have acted violently and smashed windows and interiour in the hotel. Some of the staff is told to have been acting hostile against some guests who ate their meals claiming not to understand why the hotel guests were eating as the egyptians have their Ramadan.(!!?) Scary! The riots are described as treatening and so violent that most of the guests have been very anexious and scared. Some have been evacuated to other hotels, while othters have been hiding in their rooms or at the beach while the riots have been taking place. I must admit that I have my deepest doubts and concern about spending our familyholiday at Mamlouk in late autumn, or spending our holiday i Egypt for that matter.Has anybody heard about riots like this in other hotels in the area? There may be another hotel that are one hundred prosent safe, or what? Such riots are sure to scare tourists from travelling to Egypt, for sure. I guess we are cancelling our Egypt holiday and book our journey to a country which is safe.

Dear Norwegian traveller staff riots are in some places and its peacful.Its not only in tourism but its from the workers in general to get fair income,the clever managements fix the problem in littel time, while hoels working and travelers start to come and Egyptian never been agrassive with the guests, We never ask why pepole not fasting as we do! and i think if pepole want to hide there are no where to hide at the beach. you can relax on the beach may be.

Comments on the riots. If it's in staffs interest to get their fair income I will strongly suggest that they NOT are acting treathening or violently in front of hotel guests as that will scare tourists from travelling to Egypt, and the consequens of that is in worst case that hotelstaff will loose ALL their income. Worst case scenario, I guess? I'll advice staff and employed to raise their demand on the incomeissue as a nigosiation between the management and the workers, and NOT acting violently as they have been doing.

I agree with Norwegian traveller that I also will have strong doubts about going to the Mamlouk Palace, and to Egypt as a destination when there seems to be unsafe to spend our holiday. I'll strongly advice staffmembers to act friendly and nice in their demands for better salary, as we also must act in western countries. Violency is no good 'tool', rather the opposite.